We never get enough pictures of our dirt rides. The cameras always seem to be in the bottom of the pack when I get my bike stuck up to the air box in mud, and thankfully my riding buddies are more concerned with getting me out from the bike that’s attempting to drown me, rather than taking pictures. So this report is a composite of a “typical” ride in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains more or less west of Calgary. The photos have been compiled from several rides at diffrent times of the year.

It usually starts by picking up the my buddy,

Gettin Hydrated,

Then the real fun begins. After a quick warm up in the parking lot we head down the trails, feeling like Steve McQueen…until the first wipe out, then mortality sets in.

The great part of riding in the eastern slopes is that we have very a lot of diversity.

This is a February “Foo-Foo” ride. Note the lack of snow, it’s 18 above Celsius, on this day, and we choose an area that has good drainage, south exposures, wide (if rocky roads).

You would think the thing about foo-foo rides is that the guys with the “real” dirt bikes would have an easy time. Well, we try all kinds silly things while the dual sports are catching up and wind up pooped. I tried riding off a 2’ river embankment with no run. Tires don’t hook up real well when the ground is still frozen, and apparently the water in the river doesn’t warm up ‘till August.

These bogs NEVER dry up, and the dead grass wraps around anything that turns. If you don't keep your counter sprocket clean you tend to eat up allot of seals. Don't stop moving and lookout for the dead heads. It looks pretty innocuous in this picture, but that "puddle" is over knee deep.

Up to the ridge for a a quick break,

The views seldom disappoint,

We had a nasty wind storm this fall that left our favorite trails looking like a giant's jungle gym

It gets kinda tough on the clutches and we had to leave a DT200 behind, the rescue required quads and chainsaws, but still beat being in the city on a nice afternoon.

We also played around in some hare scrambles but on by our local club and Genny got these pics of me racing...